With the 2015 NCAA Football Regular season coming to an end, we find the Military Academies still have some unfinished business on the football field as the FBS Independent-Army Black Knights of West Point 2-9 playing the AAC- Navy Midshipmen of U.S. Naval Academy 9-2 with the game being played on Saturday the 12th of December at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the kick-off scheduled for 3 PM ET.
The Navy team had their dreams of the CFP diminished with their loss to the Cougars of Houston for the AAC West Title, and now they seek to finish their season with a win over military rival Army in the 116th edition of that game and what should be a great game.
When it comes to the Army and Navy Game the team records can be thrown out the window, as the records for this game are normally of no importance. Thus the fans of the Black Knights of Army 9-2 and those who Bet on College Football at the likes of SBG, then you know that the record for Army could not get worse as they lost their last 4 straight games and that streak was finished with the loss to Rutgers 31-21 as the Rutgers RB P. James scored 3 touchdowns and had 117 yards rushing. That makes for the 9th loss consecutive to Rutgers to date.
Now the thing can’t get much better for the Army team as they now face their military rivalry team Navy who have won the last 13 games of this series, but in the last 3 game the final has be determined by 7 points or fewer. If the Black Knights are to get an upset in this game they will have to strongly step up their defense against the rush. In that last loss to Rutgers they allowed them some 255 yards rushing. Against Navy that would be another disaster, as Navy’s rushing game ranks in the FBS at 2nd at 331 yards rushing each game.
Also their defense will need to limit the Navy QB K. Reynolds whom this season has passed for 6 touchdowns on 964 yards in the air, and he rushed this season for 19 touchdowns on 1095 yards rushing. In 2014 QB Reynolds carried the ball 25 times for 102 yards while he completed 6 of his 8 passing attempts that went for 77 yards and 1 TD in their 17-10 win over the Black Knights.
Army will also need a good game from their QB C. Carter who made his 1st start last Saturday had some 252 yards, as he carried the ball for 20 times and 110 yards and a TD against Rutgers. He also completed 4 of his 6 passing attempts for 142 yards and a TD, and that’s the most from an Army QB in the last 5 seasons.
If you are a follower of the Midshipmen of Navy you know your team lost their 6th game after winning 5 straight as the lost to the Cougars of Houston this past Saturday 52-31, as the Houston QB G. Ward passed for 3 touchdowns and 309 yards in that game. That loss took the Navy team out of any hopes for this season’s CFP Playoffs.
Now they seek a comeback from that frustrating loss to beat the Black Knights of Army this coming Saturday. If Navy is going to beat this strong rival they will need to step up their defensive efforts. That was after they struggled to get the Cougars offense off the field as they converted some 16 or their 19 chances at making 1st downs. Thus that could be problematic for Navy, since the Black Knights in their last game against Rutgers completed 9 of their 13 chance of making 1st downs.
Offensively in that last game the Midshipmen struggled to run the ball against the Cougars. In their previous 2 games they rushed for at least 400 yards in each game, t hen struggled and only compiled some 146 yards against the defense of Houston. Therefore the Navy team will look to Heisman candidate RB K. Reynolds to pick up the offense for the Midshipmen. RB Reynolds had his 83 TD of his career in that game with the Cougars. Now he is excited about facing the Army defense that has allowed opponents some 163 yards rushing each game.
The sportsbook prediction for this game is that as many had expected that the Midshipmen prove to be too much for the struggling Black Knights as Navy breezes past Army for a 41-10 wins.